1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic disk drive, and related method, having cost-effective allocation the disk drive's internal program code among a permanent read only memory device, a reprogrammable nonvolatile memory device, and a data storage disk of the disk drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
A typical relatively low-cost magnetic disk drive has an internal microprocessor for controlling disk-drive operations under the direction of program code stored in the disk drive. To begin operation, the disk drive is booted using relatively complex program code stored in an internal memory device. The internal memory device is often a flash memory device that allows a manufacturer to repair or improve the program code during the manufacturing life of a disk drive model. However, a flash memory device is a relatively expensive device which may result in a significant competitive disadvantage in a mass production environment, such as the manufacture of low-cost disk drives.
Accordingly, there exists a need for implementing cost-effective storage of a disk drive's internal program code. The present invention satisfies this need.